Master Teacher Award

The Master Teacher Award was established to recognize faculty members who make outstanding contributions to the learning and working environments of the University. The Award honours faculty members who excel in their profession, and emphasizes the importance of good teaching at the University.

Criteria

Teaching is a process through which students are motivated to think and act in a sustained, positive, imaginative and substantive manner and to retain approaches acquired during this process after leaving the formal education environment. As such, Master Teacher Award nominations are assessed based on the following criteria.

Criterion 1: Creation of a Vibrant Learning Environment

Factors that Exemplify the Creation of a Vibrant Learning Environment:

Make student learning the highest priority

Guide students successfully through exploration of creative, critical thinking and problem solving processes and help students grapple with ideas and information they need to develop their own understanding

Encourage students to think and find their own creativity

Promote and value a wide range of ideas and the open expression of diverse opinions while maintaining an atmosphere of integrity, civility and respect

Encourage students to reach beyond facts and to search for understanding and application of concepts

Approachable and available to students in and beyond the classroom

Instill a desire in students for life-long learning

Seek to bridge language and cultural barriers through the creation of an environment that values the contributions of all students

The nomination package should show clearly how the nominee demonstrates exceptional:

creation of a learning context which values and facilitates active learning

broad thinking, and acts according to ethical principles

creation of a learning environment where all participants can engage respectfully

Criterion 4: Leadership

A Master Teacher is expected to provide leadership in the areas of institutional Learning Charter commitments. Leadership of this sort will begin within one’s own hallway but will not end there. Impact beyond the nominee’s own Department or School must be clearly demonstrated in this section.

Factors that Exemplify Professional Growth:

Impact on one’s institution, academic discipline, and community

Leadership in professional development, for self and others

Leadership in teaching and learning in one’s own hallway and beyond

Courage to take risks in teaching, learning, and leadership

Share innovations in academic practice with colleagues, community, and institution

Solicit and respond to feedback about academic practices by colleagues, community, and institution

Nomination Guide

What the nomination looks like

Excellence in teaching is demonstrated by exceptional and sustained performance assessed on the basis of four criteria listed above.

We expect evidence of excellence in teaching would be gathered over at least five years of teaching, whether at the U of S or elsewhere. If parts of the evidence presented are from other institutions, please put this evidence into a local context so the selection committee may understand how these parts align with similar achievements at the University of Saskatchewan. For example, teaching awards received elsewhere should be clearly described in relation to local, U of S teaching awards of a similar level.

Nomination Checklist

The following sections and materials should be present prior to submitting your Master Teacher nomination package:

Cover Page – This page should contain contact information for the nominee and nominator - Not included in the limit of 25 pages.

Table of Contents – Not included in the limit of 25 pages.

Letter of Nomination – This letter should introduce the nominee and act as a road map of the nomination package, clearly stating how it is that the evidence presented aligns with the award criteria.

Teaching Philosophy Statement – To be written by the nominee, this statement should provide insight into who the nominee is as a teacher and leader, and should align with the supporting evidence provided in the nomination package.

Teaching materials can be included if the nomination would be strengthened by providing examples that are annotated and clearly demonstrate how the nominee's teaching practice align with the award's criteria. Please do not include pages of slides or lengthy syllabi.

Teaching Evaluations – SEEQ or other student evaluation data that has been collected and presented in an accessible manner, such as in a graph or chart is acceptable, as are sections of unabridged student comments from one class. Please do not include pages of raw data that are not annotated.

Letters of Support – Letters of support from two colleagues and two former students the nominee is not currently teaching and will not likely teach in the future. These letters should directly reference the award’s criteria and address how the nominee has met the criteria from the perspective of the person writing the letter of support.

Abridged and Annotated CV – The CV should be tailored and annotated to address the award’s criteria - Not included the limit of 25 pages.

Connecting the criteria to the evidence

Once you have reviewed the criteria and the checklist, you might be wondering how best to bring those two requirements together. The criteria are more abstract and address the intent of the award while the checklist is specific and does not include a section that exclusively includes each criterion. Consider the checklist a guide to the sort of evidence that must be included, while the criteria are a guide to the story that should be told about the evidence.

For instance, the letter of nomination should address each criterion by telling the committee why this nominee is a Master Teacher and where the committee can look to find evidence of the claims being made. Each nomination will be very different and it is important to leave the criteria open enough to allow the nomination of excellent teachers from diverse backgrounds.

Nominees who's teaching philosophy statements tell a story about a teacher who strives to exemplify positive teaching and create vibrant learning environments could have evidence in student feedback and perhaps teaching strategies and/or materials that a nominator can explain and point to. Nominees who are recognized within their field as experts could have evidence of professional growth within their CVs a nominator can explain and point to. This evidence will be very different between nominees, if one is from a professional college while another is from the art, and yet another is from the social sciences, etc. The nominator's job is to tell the selection committee why the evidence fits the criteria.

Formatting

Master Teacher Award nominations should be formatted using 12 point Times New Roman font with one-inch margins.

The total volume of the nomination dossier (exclusive of the cover page, and abridged and annotated curriculum vitae of the nominee) should not exceed 25 pages.

When presenting evidence in the nomination package, provide annotations that make apparent the connection between the sources of evidence (supporting letters, etc.) and the factors listed under the criterion.

Committee Terms of Reference

Nominations are reviewed by the Master Teacher Committee, which works to ensure the transparency and integrity of the Master Teacher Award selection process.